Otters in the place everyone knows where they are but I cant tell you…

This is what happens when you link to a page without reading it properly (or perhaps it was but that was an inconvenient truth?). This page said nothing about otters being hand fed, perhaps someone was just trying to drum up interest in his facebook page?

Shame as it tarnishes all anglers with such behaviour. Thankfully those I’ve me all seem to nice people so it won’t affect my opinion of them.

One can’t help feeling dreadfully sorry for the otters, being chased around the water by photographers intent on getting a shot. Rather like the seals at Donna nook (in the past), the short eared owls at wraysbury or the Ridgeway (which have been hounded from their winter territory by “wildlife photographers”)
Its all getting a bit silly this and one can also understand why many (the majority some may say) “wildlife photographers” are giving the whole thing a bad (or worsening) reputation.
A real shame and I hope the otters find a bit of p&q away from the long lensed crew…

Lovely photos Neil, but I agree these animals need to remain properly ‘wild’ if they are to survive! Otters live short and dangerous lives as it is.. and most of the danger is human. Hopefully they will disperse soon and live a proper ‘otter’ life, having inspired people to cherish this miraculous species.. The worry is those who do not cherish these animals – they will always be a threat.

All best wishes

Miriam Darlington (author of ‘Otter Country’)

March 21, 2013 at 7:01 pm

Shoot the otters

These things are a menace.

WILD Otters? Give me a break. Nothing at all wild about an Otter that will tolerate a crowd of photographers/wildlife enthusiasts. Furthermore, these ‘enthusiasts’ ought to have a long, stern look at themselves, if they think feeding them is a good thing. I find it absolutely cringeworthy!

Your ‘dog walker’ was probably an angler. Someone who see’s the destruction these supposedly cute and cuddly APEX PREDATORS do to the environment, as well as peoples livelihoods and the economy! Something do-gooders, through their rose tinted, ‘lets save everything at the cost of whatever’ attitude. No better than releasing wolves! Would you condone that?

Very rare thing, a truly wild Otter. Released back in to an environment that cannot sustain them, due to drastic physical chance and where their preferential food source, the European Eel is critically endangered. This leads to chronic predation elsewhere and if it wasn’t for fisheries that these horrible creatures are destroying – they WOULD NOT survive!!!

I doubt the dog walker was an angler, as most angler aren’t so ignorant when it comes to otters, spewing rubbish about ‘too many have been introduced’ when only a handful ever were (150 or so over 20years before 1999, and that includes rehabilitated individuals). The whole concept that it is reintroduced otters artificially boosting numbers is complete nonsense.

As for them not surviving, well they do predate signal crayfish too and have a very varied diet (they also push out mink too). This has probably helped their spread and they’d survive well enough without angling club providing large slow moving NON native carp for them to feed on without bothering to spend any money protecting them.

In most cases spending some money on some decent otter fencing, rather than putting too many carp in a lake would stop problems from otters. In fact the EA will help funding for these fences.

March 21, 2013 at 7:31 pm

kieren driver

In my opinion from a student studying fishery management I think that otters died out for a reason n shouldnt have been reintroduced. E.g. if we could we wouldn’t bring dinosaurs back and reintroduce them.

Its well known that otters declined so massively because of declining water quality and because we released lots of nasty chemicals like DDT. Since they were banned and river water quality (in the poor quality rivers at least) has improved they have recovered, almost entirely naturally. To quote the EA

…descendants of the released otters form only a tiny proportion of the otter population of England, and most wild otters are the result of the natural recovery of the species after the banning of toxic pesticides.

The facts of otter reintroductions are as follows: Between 1984 and 1997 the Otter Trust released 117 captive-bred otters in East Anglia. A Further 49 rehabilitated animals were released by the Vincent Wildlife Trust, mostly in Yorkshire between 1990 and 1996.

I’m not sure where the comparison with dinosaurs comes into it. They died in a NATURAL extinction event 65million years ago. Otters are a native part of the river landscape that was removed by man poisoning them and they never went completely extinct in the UK as a whole either. Hardly comparable!

March 21, 2013 at 7:51 pm

Jack

Otters are being released willy nilly, the rivers cannot cope with them. They may be cute and a treat to see but the rivers are being decimated by their hunger.

The facts on otter reintroduction: between 1984 and 1997 the Otter Trust released 117 captive-bred otters. A Further 49 rehabilitated animals were released by the Vincent Wildlife Trust, mostly in Yorkshire between 1990 and 1996.

Hardly willy nilly! That is a total of 168 animals. Hardly the masses many claim and none have be reintroduced since 1999, as the otter were recolonising well enough on their own.

The reason they do it, is because it’s easy pickings and once they feel safe in an environment, they will continue to come for the easy food which requires little spent energy.

So in short I wouldn’t be surprised if wild otters started to behave this way.

March 21, 2013 at 8:51 pm

Robert Reeves

I am an angler, and strange as it mite seem, I like otters. We have one on the estate where I live, occasionally it kills a carp that we stocked into the lake. Most of the time it feeds on eels. I have caught it doing so with an infrared camera The point I want to make is that otters used to feed mainly on eels before they became endangered. Eel stocks now are at an all time low, cormorant predation. and mans ability to pollute the environment being probably the main reason for this..
Unfortunately angling has become very popular, something like 7million of us. We have stocked every available lake and pond with carp and other species of fish. Basically an open food table for otters? Fishery owners will now have to protect there investment with fences or go bust. The otter population will eventually find a balance, but not with “do-gooders” releasing tame otters in to the wild. Sorting out the cormorant predation, I’m sure would go a long way to helping both otters and anglers. .